Aloha goodbye: Cameron Crowe's new film trashed by critics on US release
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Version 0 of 1. The bad buzz has been building for months and finally this week US critics were allowed to judge whether Cameron Crowe’s new film Aloha was worthy of a garland. The answer was a resounding no. The romantic comedy, which sees defence contractor Bradley Cooper fall for pilot Emma Stone, received a string of damning reviews in the US on its release on 29 May. The Hollywood Reporter called it “deeply confused” with “mostly forced” chemistry. Variety said it was “fatally misguided”. IndieWire labelled it “shockingly bad” with “horrific dialogue”. The Washington Post referred to it as an “incoherent pu pu platter”. The negative reaction to the film (it currently has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) comes after a troubled journey to the screen. Rumours of reshoots, heavy editing and leaked emails suggest that ex-Sony head Amy Pascal wasn’t a fan of the film. The original release date was moved from December 2014 to May this year, which jars with the film’s Christmas setting. There was further difficulty this week when Cameron Crowe was accused of whitewashing Hawaii by failing to portray the predominant Asian-Pacific population of the island. The Media Action Network for Asian Americans called the film an “insult to the diverse culture and fabric of Hawaii”. It’s disappointing news for writer-director Crowe, who suffered a similar misfire with the Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst comedy Elizabethtown in 2005. The film went on to make just $27m in the US. Analysts are predicting that Aloha, opening against earthquake thriller San Andreas, could bring in $12m on its opening weekend, though the negative reviews could reduce takings. |